Edoardo Menichelli was born in San Severino Marche, Italy on 14 October 1939. He studied philosophy and theology at the Pius IX Regional Pontifical Seminary in Fano before transferring to the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, where he earned a licence in pastoral theology. He was ordained a priest on 3 July 1965 and served three years as vicar of St Joseph’s parish in San Severino Marche, while simultaneously teaching religion in local public schools. In 1968 he was called to Rome, where he remained for 26 years, serving until 1991 as an official at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and then, from 1992-1994 in the secretariat of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, where he served as personal secretary to Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, Prefect of the dicastery. During his years in Rome he served the parish of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, with special regard to the pastoral care of families. For over 20 years he also provided spiritual guidance at the Villa Mafalda clinic and also worked in family services with the faculty of medicine at Gemelli Policlinic, where, for several years, he taught professional ethics in the school of nursing. He received his episcopal ordination on 9 July 1994, following his appointment as Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, and was appointed Archbishop of Ancona-Osimo on 8 January 2004. He is president of the
Marche Bishops’ Conference, a member of the, Commission for Catholic Education, Schools and Universities, and national chaplain for the Association of Italian Catholic Physicians. In October 2014, by pontifical appointment, he participated in the Third Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod Bishops on the Family, where he was a relator of the Italian language working group ‘A’.